WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communications) is the name for a new capability incorporated into standards-based web browsers that permits the establishment of real-time, two-way voice and video communications directly from a browser without the need for any additional plug-in software.
With a browser that supports WebRTC, it is possible to develop web applications that enable users to establish voice calls and video calls with other users who have WebRTC-enabled browsers. It is also possible for such a web application to establish voice and video connectivity through suitable gateway functions in the network, thereby enabling users of WebRTC-enabled browsers to establish voice calls and video calls with users in other realms of widely-deployed communications services including public and private fixed and mobile telephone networks and Voice over IP (VoIP) networks. A gateway function embodying this capability is hereinafter referred to as a “WebRTC gateway”.
The function of a WebRTC gateway is to communicate between a WebRTC environment, comprising WebRTC-enabled browsers and the web servers with which they communicate, and public or private fixed and mobile telephone networks which may be based on either Time-Division Multiplexed (TDM) technology such as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) or on packet technology such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in conjunction with signalling protocols such as Session Initiation Protocol (SIP).
It is expected that a very common usage of WebRTC will be to support the establishment of voice calls or video calls between a user who is currently viewing a given website on the World-Wide Web, and a call centre that is operated in association with website. Such websites will typically display a button or icon on their pages that, when clicked, will cause the browser to set up a voice call or a video call that is addressed to the call centre.
Call centres are generally equipped with systems that handle incoming calls from telephone networks of various kinds, putting calls into a queue if all agents in the call centre are currently busy, and directing each call, either immediately or from the queue, to an agent who is ready and able to receive a call. Call centre equipment is generally connected to telephone networks of various kinds by standard facilities such as Primary Rate Interface TDM trunks or Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunks, and incoming calls are received by the call centre over those facilities.
A user who takes advantage of a WebRTC-enabled browser to establish a voice call or a video call from a web page to a call centre operated in association with the web site hosting that page may have recently visited one or more other pages on the website. They may also have recently entered data into forms presented by the website, or may have recently selected options presented by the website including, for example, selecting products for a planned on-line purchasing transaction. These recent activities constitute a context from within which the call to the call centre or other conventional private or public telephone system, is being established, and this context is typically represented by a collection of state information held in a Web server and referred to hereafter as a “Web session” that can be uniquely identified by a “Web session ID”.
A user typically initiates a voice call or a video call to a call centre from a web page in order to ask a question related to or to discuss some aspect of their current activity on the website that hosts that web page. The agent to whom the incoming call from the WebRTC-enabled browser is directed would be able to handle the call more productively if the agent was able to view details of the Web session in which the caller is currently engaged. For example, the agent would not have to ask the caller to state what web page the caller is currently viewing, or to provide information that the caller had previously entered into forms in the context of his or her current Web session, or to provide information about options that the caller had previously selected including items selected for a planned on-line purchasing transaction. With this information visible to the agent, the agent would be able to address the needs of the caller more expeditiously than otherwise, and with greater convenience to the caller.
Voxygen Ltd, London, have disclosed a way of correlating a phone call into a call centre with a Web session associated with the caller. This disclosure is in the form of a case study (eComcall: Next Generation Caller ID) published on the Voxygen website. The concept is claimed to be patented although no published patents or patent applications have presently been found. In this case, the phone call is made from a regular PSTN phone, and the Web session identity is inferred from the called number. The calling number is necessarily that of the physical line from which the call is being made. To implement this system, a large pool of phone numbers is associated with the call centre, and a unique number drawn from this pool is presented to the user who is browsing the business's Web pages. The caller dials the number presented to him on the Web pages, using a conventional telephone, and the call centre can infer the identity of the Web session by examining the called number of the incoming call.